Government may operate differently than the Private Sector, but they're subject to the same economic stresses (inflation, e.g.) any business entity faces, which means as time goes on, it costs more money to provide the same level of service and much more to improve service in a meaningful way. From that perspective, we should be willing to pay small, occasional fee increases for a similar amount of opportunity over the years. That said, I think it's completely fair for us to refuse to pay increasing costs while the level of service provided continues to decline.

Like Salmo g., I'd gladly pay double what I do now for my license if it meant increased, meaningful opportunity. I'd gladly accept regular, nominal fee increases to cover the increasing cost of doing business as well, were it not for the fact we've no reason to expect our money to go to maintaining our fisheries.

Anyone concerned about paying too much for a license, now or ever should step back and look at how much it costs to go salmon or steelhead fishing, from the bank (no boat), just once. I did the math over the weekend (after yet another extremely disappointing day of steelhead fishing that should be on fire this time of year), and here's what it looks like for me:

1. Gas and vehicle wear - occasionally as little as $10, but as far as I usually have to drive to find fish anymore, usually closer to $30/day. This assumes gas mileage in the mid-20s per gallon. This amount, alone, for a single trip, is almost half the cost of the annual combo fishing license.

2. Tackle - On a good day (had what you needed to start with and didn't lose any tackle), this is close to zero, but an average day sees me lose at least 2 lures to snags/etc. I'd say $5/lure is about average cost, so let's call this $10 per trip.

3. Wader/boot wear - It's hard to quantify this, because waders and boots come in a wide variety of prices, but I tend to buy middle of the road waders ($300-$400; as much as I can afford) and high end boots (about $200/pair). Let's call it $550 for the outfit. Waders usually last less than 2 years, but I'll be generous and allow them that rate of longevity for argument's sake. I take about 50 trips a year, so I figure I get about 100 trips out of an outfit before it essentially becomes a wetsuit. That divides out to just over $5/trip in estimated wader wear.

I'm sure there are costs I'm forgetting, but we're looking at something just south of $50 per trip. That's more than the total annual cost for freshwater only and about $20 less than the combo license. Hook up a boat for the day and it probably exceeds the entire annual combo license cost. If I go conservative and estimate $40/trip, then divide my annual costs by my annual catch (harvested salmon and steelhead), I figure I pay over $200 per fish harvested. Not exactly a viable means of sustenance....

I think this shows 4 things:

1. Fishing is expensive.
2. Fisherfolk inject a lot of money into local economies every time we go fishing (the Legislature should appreciate this a lot more than they seem to).
3. License fees aren't where we get hurt, and it won't kill us to cough up more (with justification, of course).
4. (Pay attention WDFW) Even if it's not a ton of money in the grand scheme, people don't like spending more money to get less in return. That's bad business.